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OMGosh, catching up on this thread this morning gave me a lot of laughs! Thanks for that! Happy New Year everyone! Here's hoping we have much less to kvetch about in this thread in 2021 and much more to gloat about in some of the other threads on CDC!

I appreciate your perspective and admire your patience given you are much closer to the outcomes of peoples decisions than I am as you work in the medical field. Sadly, my level of empathy for people's decisions is at an all time low. We seem to have divided our society into people who care about others beyond their immediate circle of influence, and people who only care about their immediate family members if they even care that far. Sadly I don't believe there is any level of explaining and education that will make people care about others or acknowledge that there is in fact risk in the decisions they make that goes beyond individual impact. I think at this point you're a much better person than I am.

Not sure a curfew could be enforced for that short a time frame, nor what it would accomplish. People are going to people. At least by closing off alcohol sales perhaps grouping together will be limited somewhat. We don't have police resources to be fining/arresting anyone that might break a curfew.

This seems to be similar to the rationale that everyone uses who bypassed the regulations and thinks their particular situation is safe and won't lead to infections. There isn't any changing of minds in a situation like this. Either the participants are lucky and no one gets infected or someone/many people do get infected which then adds to the burden on the health care system - purely resulting from incredibly selfish behaviour. Perhaps you could take the time to enlighten us on how your family group is so much more special that you have to put others at risk (no, don't defend your actions by saying there was no risk, or you aren't putting anyone outside your family at risk because we all know that's BS). #notwantedinmyfoxhole

My big F Yeah for the morning!

So sorry that you've lost someone, and sad that it's in such difficult circumstances. Virtual hugs.

Sad that he's passed away, horrible for his wife and kids. Cynical me is curious about what his behaviour was prior to infection - he's a Republican, was he taking any precautions or not so much?

He was tested on the 19th, but then it took time to do the genome sequencing to determine what strain of COVID it was. That's why it wasn't announced until this week.

Were you outside or indoors? TBH, I rarely wear a mask outside as it usually means I can't see anything as my glasses are fogged up and as I understand the guidelines, outdoors it's unlikely that the virus will spread unless people are close together for extended periods, passing someone on a sidewalk isn't going to lead to infection. Am I wrong in that? Maybe with the new variant I need to change my approach, I'll just take the glasses off and manage that way.

The mandatory quarantine should be in effect the moment your feet hit Canadian land for the first time. Not after you have to travel for x number of additional legs of your journey to get to YOUR home. I haven't been able to find anything in the regulations that state that though. My friend who chose to go to Mexico for Christmas lives in the OK, flew to Calgary and then PV. To me it would make sense on her return if she has to quarantine in Calgary when she lands there, not being allowed to fly back to her home city and then quarantine in the comfort of her home. I'm finding myself more and more in the camp of stopping all non-essential travel. No international travel unless for work, but that would then probably put most airlines back on the verge of bankruptcy along with airports etc. Couldn't everything survive for 30 days? Or no? Circuit breaker that would help bring the transmission rates down, meanwhile pushing hard to get the vaccines out to the most vulnerable.

Hundreds of British tourists ESCAPE quarantine in Swiss ski resort and flee in the night | Daily Mail Online Escape from Verbier: Hundreds of British tourists flee in the night after being forced into quarantine at Swiss ski resort hotels - despite fears they could have mutant virus strain Around 200 tourists from Britain have fled the luxury Swiss Verbier ski resort Staff only noticed the guests were gone when trays of food outside rooms were left untouched and calls were going unanswered A flight ban has been put in place in response to the new Covid strain in Britain A 10-day quarantine was implemented for people who had arrived from the UK Article contains more details. Almost impossible to contain the new strain of virus. People are going to people.

For your comment I need a laughing crying emoji....buckle up, things might get even more interesting in early 2021. Or, this is much ado about nothing. Not sure. Fitting end to a bizarre year.

I like the idea of reporting them but not through the police. I think the recommendation has been to call 311, local bylaw officers but not 911 as it does tie up policing resources unnecessarily. Would be nice and kind of fun to make their Christmas memorable in a completely unexpected way. A fine would be appropriate, or at minimum a warning although I think the enforcement officers are moving more quickly to fines rather than the "education" that they started with - who on earth needs more explaining about what the regulations are?

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all the CDC peeps! It's been a wild ride this year and I've appreciated jumping on here periodically and reading everything you have collectively shared! Here's to a much more interesting (in a good way) 2021. Stay safe everyone!

Personally, I'll be at the front of line with my sleeves rolled up as soon as its my turn. I've had the flu shot every year for probably the last 8 or 9 years, biggest reaction I've had was a mild fever that lasted a day. Had the two dose shingles vaccine last winter, sore arm both times and the second shot made me a bit sick for a 24 hour period. As a result I've not had any serious bouts of illness. The potential long term effects of COVID scare the crap out of me, to say nothing of the Russian Roulette of whether it might kill me. At the least I would hate to be sick and make someone else sick, that would be awful.

Totally agree with you. I've already turned down a couple of invitations to meet people in restaurants for dinner prior to Christmas, explaining that while it might be ok because I'm alone and these are people I golf with, I'm not comfortable doing it as I'm concerned about COVID spread. I suggest the alternative of getting together in Jan/Feb once restrictions are relaxed a bit, vaccines are a bit more broadly in use so the death toll in care homes has hopefully declined. I also know of people who while they aren't going away for Christmas they are planning to invite people outside their household bubble because the people are alone. Not sure that's a good idea either. It's one Christmas! For heaven's sake, I'd far sooner give up a bit now and have all these folks and others still around for Easter.

Well, in fairness, at that time it was considered to be under control for most of the summer. Infection rates and death rates were some of the lowest anywhere. Had people done what was being asked of them, the virus might have remained under some sort of control, but I suppose it's not reasonable to expect people to behave responsibly. I personally think it will be an interesting read, behind the scenes understanding of how and why decisions were made. I'm sure there is so much information that we have zero understanding of that shapes what was done and why. I also don't think there is "cashing in" happening - non fiction writers don't make a lot of money off publications. It might be of interest in BC, but I doubt it will be a national best seller. I believe I read somewhere that Lynn Henry is a publisher?

I saw a quote this morning from a Dr. in the US suggesting people use a pulse oximeter - that would only be useful if people understood at what value they should be concerned. His thought was that if people presented to the hospital sooner in their COVID symptom process the outcomes might be better.

WRT masks, the place I volunteer at on the DTES had a Vancouver Coastal Health inspection last week. We were advised after that visit that effective immediately, all staff and volunteers must wear disposable masks, reusable masks would not be allowed any longer. No reason was given, I suspect it's because there is no standard for cloth masks. Some are better made than others, some are 3 ply, some are 2 ply plus a filter, some are only one ply, some have nose wires, some are bigger or smaller. Disposables are probably a more consistent quality.

Maybe. I don't think there is enough research available yet to be able to support that conclusion with scientific evidence. There have been people who are young, fit, healthy, active, no underlying health issues who have died or been plagued with Long Covid. Personally I believe that my chances are better than the sofa slug given that I'm active, eat well, workout a lot. Can I say that categorically? No.

Bit disingenuous to argue that the government hasn't / doesn't support or encourage citizens to live healthy lifestyles. They have been doing that ad nauseum forever, see Canada Food Guide, Participaction and a myriad of other initiatives. What they haven't done - correctly since the science doesn't exist yet is link healthy living to impact on COVID outcomes. Since COVID-19 has had negative impacts across all walks of life, to have the government take a specific position on actions would potentially create a false sense of security. The government has supported those actions that have been shown to reduce the spread - wash your hands, wear a mask, physically distance.

I thought this was some sort of satire at first...but no....this is real shizzz Republic of Kanata convener says its sheriffs will stop distribution of COVID-19 vaccines in Vancouver | Georgia Straight Vancouver's News & Entertainment Weekly There are more indications that those who oppose wearing masks are prepared to go further than just holding protests in front of public buildings. In fact, there may be plans afoot to even interfere with efforts to get vaccines to people whose lives will be at risk if they contract COVID-19. Kevin Annett, a former United Church minister, calls himself a "special adviser in common law" to the Republic of Kanata. People who support this so-called "sovereign nation" believe that it has broken free from the British monarchy and its system of Crown law. And Annett recently revealed that "sheriffs" of the Republic of Kanata were going to meet in Vancouver at the end of November to discuss how to prevent COVID-19 immunizations. According to Annett, these sheriffs "are talking openly about trashing these vaccines". "We are not going to let these vaccines—vaccinations—be distributed," Annett says in the video below. "We're going to stop it from happening." Article continues a lot longer with some tweets from the nutbars. This would be why there is so much secrecy over storage locations, the police are involved in providing security....OMG I can't believe this.

I've seen it described as being at half time right now in terms of the distance we have yet to go in fighting COVID. Bit sobering to realize we probably have a long bit ahead with masks, distancing etc. However, I think the stress level will decrease if we can reduce the rate of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. I know for me personally the last couple of months of watching our infection rates jumping has been rather tough. As @debluvscanucks says, Hang on, we'll get there.

The article that I read yesterday indicated he had been hospitalized with COVID, recovered enough to be released, then had a heart attack at home in Las Vegas. Take from that what you will in terms of whether COVID was the cause.